[Spotswood]

The motherboard "tray" is completely removable.

 

[Spotswood]

Drives attach to the extrusion via rubber grommets (note the milled-out areas)...

..and are located behind/underneath the motherboard tray.

Here's the tray attached to the back panel frame:

 

[Aenra]

I tell this to every maker willing to listen, so here goes to you too
Trends are a fact of life;
I remember hating my reading glasses, because they covered half my damned face (and i felt like an idiot); fast forward it a bit and it's a trend all of a sudden.. 15yr olds (of all real ages) walking around with 70s-styled glasses on them.. fashiun!111!
I could go on, but point hopefully taken.

So on topic, am aware it's the new trend to cram everything in as tight an enclosure as humanly possible; slap some needlessly overpowered GPU in it, must-have RGB on it and call one's self.. whatever it is they call themselves.
For normal people however, mITX used to be.. mITX really.. you'd use the integrated graphics, so barring that PSU lying somewhere inside the case, your sole 'worry' would be the HDDs. Tidy, logical. No empty space inside wasted. Amazing thing, logic, is it not.
Enter trends and what happens when everyone adhers to them, ie mITX cases about as deep as a full tower; why? Who knows?

Make something compact that doesn't expect the user to have a dedicated GPU; ie something that isn't almost 3 times as deep as it should; ie something resembling what once was a typical mITX case; the kind no one, but no one makes anymore.
Who knows huh, someone might buy it.

 

[Spotswood]

Finished cutting and assembling the frame.

Bottom sheet was cut on my Avid CNC router:

 

[Gilles3000]

Looks good so far, subbed

 

[Spotswood]

All of the side panels will be cut on the CNC. Here's a quick time lapse of the PSU cut out:

 

[Spotswood]

Nuts can be inserted into the extrusion via small milled-out areas. By "capturing" a nut between two others (4mm long set screws are used to retain the two outer nuts), you have the ability to fasten to a fixed location (without having to drill and tap a hole) e.g. a side panel.

 

[Spotswood]

I only realized after cutting the left side panel that the two fan hole cutouts were - um, ugly. So, I remounted that sheet to the inside of the case and cut another solid sheet, thus creating a bottom fed air duct to keep the GPU nice and cool.

 

[Spotswood]

The top was milled from a 2.25mm thick aluminum sheet.

I still haven't decided on the design of the ventilation holes to be milled out of the top. In the meantime, I leveraged the extra length of the corner extrusions (moving them up a bit), allowing the top to "float" 2.75mm over the side panels (creating the equivalent of a 2.75-inch square ventilation hole).

 

[Duality92]

I need to have a new case done one day, I love my Spotswood custom case soooooo much!

 

[Spotswood]

The prototype case is complete. Please tell me what you think of the design, internal component layout, fabrication, etc.!

 

[BaK2BaK]

Nuts can be inserted into the extrusion via small milled-out areas. By "capturing" a nut between two others (4mm long set screws are used to retain the two outer nuts), you have the ability to fasten to a fixed location (without having to drill and tap a hole) e.g. a side panel.

View attachment 289066

Thx for the tips!
Just found some M3 x 3mm set screws I am going to use on my MakerBeam (10x10mm) case!


Is the rectangle cutout at the back only for the I/O cables?
It looks big, what height is it?

 

[Spotswood]

Thx for the tips!
Just found some M3 x 3mm set screws I am going to use on my MakerBeam (10x10mm) case!


Is the rectangle cutout at the back only for the I/O cables?
It looks big, what height is it?

Its 60mm/2.4-inches tall.

 

[speed_demon]

Lookin good! :thumb:

 

[BaK2BaK]

Its 60mm/2.4-inches tall.

I guess you played it safe then, the longest connector I can think of is DVI at around 4cm with its cable bent.

 

[Spotswood]

I tell this to every maker willing to listen, so here goes to you too
Trends are a fact of life;
I remember hating my reading glasses, because they covered half my damned face (and i felt like an idiot); fast forward it a bit and it's a trend all of a sudden.. 15yr olds (of all real ages) walking around with 70s-styled glasses on them.. fashiun!111!
I could go on, but point hopefully taken.

So on topic, am aware it's the new trend to cram everything in as tight an enclosure as humanly possible; slap some needlessly overpowered GPU in it, must-have RGB on it and call one's self.. whatever it is they call themselves.
For normal people however, mITX used to be.. mITX really.. you'd use the integrated graphics, so barring that PSU lying somewhere inside the case, your sole 'worry' would be the HDDs. Tidy, logical. No empty space inside wasted. Amazing thing, logic, is it not.
Enter trends and what happens when everyone adhers to them, ie mITX cases about as deep as a full tower; why? Who knows?

Make something compact that doesn't expect the user to have a dedicated GPU; ie something that isn't almost 3 times as deep as it should; ie something resembling what once was a typical mITX case; the kind no one, but no one makes anymore.
Who knows huh, someone might buy it.

The design is pretty easy to reduce in size. Here is a modest reduction in height:

:thumb:

 

[Spotswood]

Spent some more time reducing the size of the case.

Note the square corner posts in this model:

Side panels could be any color or material. Black/ebonized oak would look beautiful.

 

[skupples]

makerbeam = adult erector set.

i r in love. Will definitely find a use for this stuff when I build my new desk.

 

[Spotswood]

Also working on a smaller, simpler variation of the OP case design (for ITX-size GPUs).